New cars put to the life-saving test in new ad campaign

The sceptic in you might suspect this new TV commercial is out to sell you a shiny new car. In a sense, it is.

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), an independent body funded by government and organisations like NRMA and the RACV, has positioned itself over the years as a safety watchdog in the new-car market.

You've seen its billboards, urging shoppers to ensure their next car has a five-star safety rating, awarded through an assessment of each vehicle's active safety features and ANCAP's own crash-testing program.

The new ad campaign delivers a visceral and impactful demonstration of the progress made in protecting motorists caught in a potentially fatal collision. Picture: Supplied
(Supplied)The ad features two actors dressed like crash test dummies. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

Manufacturers aren't required by law to submit their vehicles for testing, but ANCAP, a member of the wider Global NCAP organisation, has been influential in getting motorists to consider safer cars – thus encouraging manufacturers to play along.

In a new ad campaign launched this week, the crash-test process is used to best effect, delivering a visceral and impactful demonstration of the progress made in protecting motorists caught in a potentially fatal collision.

ANCAP says its campaign is an important addition to the more familiar road safety campaigns that usually focus on the human factor: most often reckless driving, alcohol, and fatigue.

“This is the first campaign of its kind, where the vehicle [rather than responsible driving alone] is profiled as being the life-saving factor in a crash,” ANCAP chief executive, James Goodwin, said.

A 2015 Toyota Corolla is shown absorbing the impact of a crash at 65km/h. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

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The video delivers a twist on the usual crash test procedure, having a 2015 Toyota Corolla face off not against the usual reinforced concrete wall, but rather an earlier 1998 example of the same popular car.

Worse, we're shown scenes of two everyday motorists covered in crash-test 'calibration stickers' as they get ready to make their way to work. But, just before we're exposed to a grisly close-up of the horrifying injuries sure to follow, the drivers are switched out for a pair of universally familiar crash-test dummies.

The final footage is no less shocking, however, as the old and new hatchbacks are forced head-on into each other at 64km/h, writing-off both.

Not surprisingly, the older car comes off second best, crushed into an almost unrecognisable hulk as its dashboard and steering wheel become one with the rubber-and-metal occupant. Eye-opening stuff.

An older 1998 model Corolla is seen to be completely destroyed in the crash. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

The hardy dummies bear none of the gory and tragic injuries we might see in a conventional road-safety video of decades past, but expensive internal sensors reveal that a flesh-and-blood human driving the 20-year-old Corolla would not have survived the encounter.

A human in the 2015 model? In this particular collision, a slight risk of lower-leg injury would be likely, the sensors show, and probably a few scratches and cuts.

The campaign suggests that while newer cars are more expensive, the investment could someday pay for itself, thanks to the stronger and safety-focused construction of newer cars and the raft of crash-avoidance systems rapidly becoming the norm.

“Importantly, this campaign also establishes the call to improve the affordability of newer, safer vehicles and encourage fleet renewal," Mr Goodwin said.

One vehicle was certainly worse off after the crash. Picture: Supplied (Supplied)

Data shows that while the oldest cars on our roads make up just 20 per cent of the national fleet, they are involved in 37 per cent of all fatal accidents.

Conversely, vehicles built between 2012-2017 account for 31 per cent of all cars on the road, but are involved in just 12 per cent of fatalities.

While there are numerous factors in staying safe on the road, the numbers speak for themselves: the closer you can get to a newer or brand-new car, the safer you will be in a potentially fatal incident.